Steelers linebacker Lawrence Timmons says it’s understandable that his teammate, James Harrison, isn’t happy with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. According to Timmons, the way the league office hands down fines has a lot of players angry, not just Harrison.

“A lot of guys feel a certain way about the fines,” Timmons said on TSN Radio in Toronto, via Sports Radio Interviews. “The fines, they were ill-advised and came out of nowhere and it wasn’t fair. This is quite a bit of chunk of change -— you’re talking about 20 to 75 grand taken out of your checks. A lot of guys may have kids, three or four mortgages. That hurts. So yeah, I’m pretty sure there’s a lot of animosity towards Goodell.”

Most fans aren’t going to have a lot of sympathy for NFL players that can’t pay their “three or four mortgages” because the league office fined them, but Timmons is surely right that there’s a lot of animosity toward Goodell. Lots of NFL players view Goodell’s NFL as too focused on disciplining them for what they do wrong and not focused enough on celebrating what they do right.

If you can, ignore the irresponsible picture of James Harrison holding two handguns, the disloyal swipes at teammates Ben Roethlisberger and Rashard Mendenhall, the taunting of linebacker Brian Cushing and the cracks on Rodney Harrison and Tedy Bruschi.

If you can, ignore the bluster, foul language and idiocy James Harrison unleashed in a Men's Journal profile story.

Focus on this: Harrison's hatred of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and what it signifies and means for the league.

Roger Goodell is the reason the lockout has stretched into July. Roger Goodell is the reason the players association hasn't folded and likely won't anytime soon. Roger Goodell is the glue and inspiration behind the players' resolve to stand united and firm throughout the summer.

Goodell, in the players' minds, symbolizes everything that's wrong with this labor dispute. Cowardly hypocrites want to squeeze the players for every dime while making no sacrifices themselves.

Goodell, the darling of the NFL media elite, is despised by the men he governs. He's seen as a phony and an opportunist.

Well, James Harrison is Omar Little, the principled, gay stickup man who became the unlikely transcendent character of the HBO show. In the Men's Journal story, if you dust away Harrison's bluster and foul language, the Pittsburgh linebacker basically calls the NFL's commissioner Maurice Levy, the slimy, crooked lawyer who profits from collaborating with drug kingpins.

In a nutshell, Harrison, labeled the “Hit Man” by Men's Journal, told Goodell: “I got the handguns. You got the briefcase. It's all in the game though, right?”

Harrison's view of Goodell is popular among NFL players. Goodell made the mistake of appointing himself judge, jury and prosecutor of the NFL's conduct policy. He then accentuated the error by becoming the face of the league's crackdown on helmet-to-helmet collisions and other violent hits.

Goodell fell in love with the camera and the glowing love letters penned by his media puppets. Rather than delegate the top-cop role to an underling, he took on the responsibility because it made him a star. That stardom has hurt his ability to negotiate a labor deal. Many of the players believe they are negotiating against someone who is evil and racist.

I don't know Goodell. I doubt he's evil and racist. I do believe the public roles he plays make it easy for the players to develop a highly negative opinion of him.

In a league predominantly populated by black players, Goodell's main roles are protecting the interests of 32 white owners, protecting the safety of the star white quarterbacks who drive ratings and suspending/fining rank-and-file players for embarrassing the owners or hurting the quarterbacks.

No one should be all that surprised by the vitriol Harrison hurled at Goodell.

“If that man was on fire and I had to piss to put him out, I wouldn't do it,” the heavily fined linebacker told Men's Journal. “I hate him and will never respect him.

“I slammed Vince Young on his head and paid five grand, but just touched Drew Brees and that was 20 (grand). You think black players don't see this s--- and lose all respect for Goodell?”

Paul Solotaroff, the author of the Men's Journal story, said on ESPN on Wednesday that he'd received countless messages from NFL players thanking James Harrison for giving voice to their view of, and feelings toward, Goodell.

Again, Goodell is quite popular with the NFL media elite. He is celebrated for disciplining spoiled, entitled, out-of-control athletes. The media loves Goodell for appearing to champion player safety.

The players see a hypocrite. They see a $10 million-a-year commissioner who won't suffer a reduction in salary when this lockout is over and never suffers an ounce of physical pain.

Harrison wears the shoulder pads and Goodell wears the suit. They both earn millions off Harrison's violence, but Goodell can earn for 20-plus years and walk away healthy.

Harrison called Goodell a “crook” and a “devil.” The words are harsh and over the top. They come from a real place.

Goodell has argued in favor of an 18-game schedule. You can't champion player safety and an expanded regular-season schedule. Well, you can when you earn an eight-figure salary and won't suffer the physical consequences of a lengthier schedule.

You can't suggest James Harrison is a dirty player, fine him several hundred thousand dollars for hits the league promotes and sells on DVDs.

When this lockout ends and a labor deal is struck, Goodell must immediately begin work on rehabilitating his image with NFL players. If he can't do it, he should be replaced in two or three years.

The partnership that existed (and worked well) between players and owners during the Gene Upshaw and Paul Tagliabue era will never be duplicated with this version of Goodell in the commissioner's office.

[b]When this lockout ends and a labor deal is struck, Goodell must immediately begin work on rehabilitating his image with NFL players. If he can't do it, he should be replaced in two or three years.

NOW!

winwithd

07-14-2011, 11:07 PM

I wish the players would insist on Godell's resignation being part of signing a new agreement, even give ground on something else in exchange for it. But unfortunately it won't happen.

Djfan

07-15-2011, 12:04 AM

I wish the players would insist on Godell's resignation being part of signing a new agreement, even give ground on something else in exchange for it. But unfortunately it won't happen.

I agree. He has done more damage to the league than all the past leaders and underlings combined.

Oviedo

07-15-2011, 08:21 AM

I wish the players would insist on Godell's resignation being part of signing a new agreement, even give ground on something else in exchange for it. But unfortunately it won't happen.

I agree. He has done more damage to the league than all the past leaders and underlings combined.

I would fully support a deal where Goodell and D. Smith both go. Both are guilty in this thing dragging out. Sal Palontonio said yesterday that going to the courts lost 3 months of negotiating time while everyone waited for judgements which is why we are up against the wire. That is all on Smith.

feltdizz

07-15-2011, 08:33 AM

I wish the players would insist on Godell's resignation being part of signing a new agreement, even give ground on something else in exchange for it. But unfortunately it won't happen.

I agree. He has done more damage to the league than all the past leaders and underlings combined.

I would fully support a deal where Goodell and D. Smith both go. Both are guilty in this thing dragging out. Sal Palontonio said yesterday that going to the courts lost 3 months of negotiating time while everyone waited for judgements which is why we are up against the wire. That is all on Smith.
Really?

:nono Goodell bashing only!

:D

Oviedo

07-15-2011, 09:46 AM

I wish the players would insist on Godell's resignation being part of signing a new agreement, even give ground on something else in exchange for it. But unfortunately it won't happen.

I agree. He has done more damage to the league than all the past leaders and underlings combined.

I would fully support a deal where Goodell and D. Smith both go. Both are guilty in this thing dragging out. Sal Palontonio said yesterday that going to the courts lost 3 months of negotiating time while everyone waited for judgements which is why we are up against the wire. That is all on Smith.
Really?

:nono Goodell bashing only!

:D

I think Smith deserves just as much bashing if not more.

feltdizz

07-15-2011, 12:53 PM

32 owners and you feel that way about Smith :wink:

Once the lockout ends Goodell will still be the villain. Always will be.

grotonsteel

07-15-2011, 01:31 PM

I would fully support a deal where Goodell and D. Smith both go. Both are guilty in this thing dragging out.

:Agree

Oviedo

07-15-2011, 01:35 PM

32 owners and you feel that way about Smith :wink:

Once the lockout ends Goodell will still be the villain. Always will be.

The 32 owners are not different that the 32 player reps that each team has or the players executive committeee or the retired player reps who participate.

Goodell will be a villan but so will the only guy who forced this into courts and delayed a settlement...Smith

pittpete

07-15-2011, 02:01 PM

If Goodell was on fire, I wouldnt piss on him.
Hell, if the CEO of my company was on fire I wouldnt piss on him either.
Wow, wish I could say that straight to my CEO's face w/o any repercussions.

Way to speak your mind James.

feltdizz

07-15-2011, 02:53 PM

32 owners and you feel that way about Smith :wink:

Once the lockout ends Goodell will still be the villain. Always will be.

The 32 owners are not different that the 32 player reps that each team has or the players executive committeee or the retired player reps who participate.

Goodell will be a villan but so will the only guy who forced this into courts and delayed a settlement...Smith

The owners and you are the only ones who hate Smith as much as the rest of the football world hates Goodell.

I'm willing to bet if Goodell wasn't the commish we wouldn't even know who Smith is because the whole process would've been smoother. The only way you negotiate with an Azzhole like Goodell is to be an Azzhole...

I bet the players would've gave in a lot sooner if Goodell wasn't around or stepped down. They hate him with a passion and most of the fans hate him too.

The crazy thing about all of this is the Rooney's picked the guy...

williar

07-15-2011, 04:02 PM

I love James Harrison. I'm sure the he had to know he was going to take a hit for his comments but stayed true to his convictions. I'm proud James wears the Black and Gold.
Win or lose. I fear no team as long as I know James is on the field giving his all.

Discipline of Steel

07-15-2011, 07:35 PM

You know what it is? James Harrison is fighting Goodell with guerilla tactics, he is the leader of the 'large majority' of NFL players who want to see Goodell ousted and a return to a simpler set of rules. Harrison is taking the man on, and Timmons is telling us he has a large army of players on his side. This larger issue of Harrison v Goodell sits in the background of the silly labor negotiations, waiting for game day later this year.

He already knows hes going to get suspended this year so what does he have to lose?

James Harrison is a dying breed, tomorrows players will be more like technicians than tough guys. That will suck, but i suppose its tolerable compared to baseball so i will watch. What will turn me away are rules to technical in nature to officiate evenly and an overemphasis on penalties, fines, and ejections. That will truly ruin the game. I think Goodell is pushing it and James Harrison is leading the players against it because they know it is wrong.

Former New England Patriots linebacker Mike Vrabel says the players' union — assuming there will be re-certification following a labor agreement — would object to any punishment by the NFL against James Harrison in the wake of recent controversial comments by the Pittsburgh Steelers' linebacker in Men's Journal magazine.

Vrabel, who retired earlier this month to become an Ohio State assistant coach, said recently on WEEI's Big Show (via CSNNE.com) that the NFLPA "would have an issue if (Harrison) were suspended or fined."

"I think there are things that you should be able to do and say — more importantly say," said Vrabel, who was a prominent union member before his retirement. "(Harrison's comments are) not conduct detrimental to any team other than if (Steelers coach) Mike Tomlin had an issue with the way (Harrison) was referring to the Pittsburgh Steelers."

Some of Harrison's harshest comments were directed at NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

"Roger's got big shoulders," Vrabel said. "Roger understands. I would say to Roger or anybody else that had a problem with it, I would say what Bill (Belichick) said to us: To (those who) much is given, much is expected. And Roger is given a lot in form of compensation and being in the situation that he's in so there's a lot expected of him. And if that means taking the higher road and calling James and trying to figure out how to get this thing settled between them or whatever issue they have going on."

hawaiiansteel

07-22-2011, 02:25 PM

Goodell becomes face of distrust for players

By Sam Mellinger, McCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS
Friday, July 22, 2011

http://files.pittsburghlive.com/photos/2011-07-22/FBNgoodell-a.jpg

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell will have to rebuild his image and earn back the trust of the players once the league's labor dispute is settled.

KANSAS CITY, MO. — This is Roger Goodell's fault.

A news conference that many see as being designed to strong-arm NFL players into accepting owner demands that haven't even been presented to players instead stands as his own premature "Mission Accomplished" celebration.

Good for the players. They aren't willing to be pushed around, and are trusting that fans are smart enough to see through the owners' transparent bullying and play for public support.

And that's Goodell's fault, too.

Here's the important thing to remember: This deal will be made final, and almost certainly soon, because there is too much money at stake for both sides if they reach agreement and too much hatred in store from fans if they don't.

But what we're seeing now is the illustration of a major distrust many players have of Goodell and the owners.

The thing that goes immediately overlooked is that the deal appears fair. There are parts that are pro-players and parts that are pro-owners. If this is the framework that's eventually passed, it's also pro-fan because it goes for 10 years without any opt-outs. But the players can't be expected to instantly pass something they haven't had time to digest.

No real deadline passed Thursday night when the players didn't ratify the owners' proposal to end their lockout. Players have until next week to approve (or counter) the deal without missing a single snap of football, so why rush on the owners' account?

Social media and greater availability of information have played a part, too, but essentially the owners made a power play and the players didn't cave.

What the owners did would have been shrewd in the NFL of years past, when the union established a tradition of giving in. If the owners expected that again, they underestimated the damage Goodell has done.

Through a series of mistakes that can most logically be explained by ego or stupidity, Goodell has made himself so disliked by players that they've bonded and fought and showed more solidarity than at any other point in the league's history.

Think about that.

Commissioners are supposed to be agents of progress, but it's not hard to find people inside the game who saw Goodell's presence as a problem from the beginning of negotiations.

He came into this thing with a bulletproof rep, which by now feels as outdated as acid-washed jeans. Goodell built what used to be seen as armor through his tough-cop crackdowns on player behavior. Guys didn't need to be convicted, sometimes not even charged, to feel the wrath of Roger. He fined violent hits — clean ones, sometimes — with the same impunity.

Fans mostly celebrated Goodell's intentions, but his mistake came in not delegating punishment the way commissioners in other leagues do.

He didn't need to be the face taking money out of players' checks, just as he didn't need to present himself as the face of the first work stoppage in America's most popular sport in nearly 25 years.

The owners' biggest mistakes now have his signature on them, mistakes that either fumbled or delayed a frustrating process for the rest of us while giving the athletes fans root for an entire summer to look into television cameras and say all they want to do is play football.

Many longtime observers of sports labor situations say this is the most public venom they can remember being directed at the owners, and through his own doing, Goodell made himself the sponge for it.

Fans booed him like Bernie Madoff at the NFL draft, the man who used to pose for photographs at tailgate parties now seen as the face of unfathomable greed.

Roddy White called Goodell's style a "dictatorship." Derrick Mason called the commissioner "a joke." Kevin Burnett accused him of being a "blatant liar." Others characterized him as a publicity hound, insincere, unwilling to listen ... and we haven't even mentioned anything James Harrison said.

And that's only what guys said publicly.

What makes it even worse is that the owners didn't need to operate this way. When the new labor agreement is finally approved — and it should be within days — many of the owners will be bruised.

That's especially true in Kansas City, where Clark Hunt has cut pay for team employees, decided that ticket-takers should no longer be allowed to watch the games they work and had his team's low payrolls highlighted by the proposed agreement's salary floor.

They didn't need it to play out like this. The NFL is a fail-proof business model with players whose short careers make it frightening to miss paychecks. Work stoppages are for broken leagues, like the NHL six years ago or the NBA right now.

The NFL owners' last-second power-play — when a nation of fans built anticipation — would be a genius business maneuver if effective.

Unfortunately for them, the man they trusted to be the face of the lockout is so distrusted by the players, he must work with that the whole thing is, at least for the moment, stalled.

The best we can hope for is that owners recognize Rogers failings through all this and are forced to can him so the league can regain respect all around. He can be the fall guy! Then the new commish comes in and formulates a more reasonable approach to player safety. I am really crossing my fingers on this.

hawaiiansteel

07-28-2011, 02:20 AM

Originally Published: July 28, 2011

Can this NFL relationship be saved?

Maybe not, if players are going to insist that Roger Goodell be their best friend

By Gene Wojciechowski
ESPN.com

Just got done reading page after page of the new NFL collective bargaining agreement summary.

Guess what? Nowhere in any of the bullet points, graphs, charts or info bubbles does it say the players have to like league commissioner Roger Goodell. Or that Goodell has to like them back.

And when the nearly 400-page CBA is signed by Goodell and NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith, there won't be a section, article or single sentence that requires the commish and players to be BFFs with each other. Not a word.

http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2011/0727/espn_a_goodell1x_200.jpg

Clearly, Roger Goodell has a sense of humor, even if the players haven't seen much of it lately.

Goodell is no statesman. Then again, he wasn't hired to be one. He was hired by NFL owners to articulate their position on all things management. He isn't their puppet, but he is their employee. He also knows who butters his bread -- and it isn't the players holding the stick of Land O'Lakes.

Goodell's mistake was representing himself as a partner of sorts with the players. And the players' mistake was believing him.

He positioned himself as a willing listener to the players' concerns. He wasn't an advocate, but he also wasn't an adversary. He was a different kind of commissioner.

Or so the players thought.

But the very nature of the job -- and the ownership constituency Goodell ultimately serves -- makes that sort of collegial, chummy relationship impossible to sustain. Goodell could never be the players' buddy. His heart might have been in the right place, but in the end, none of it mattered.

He isn't the devil, but he also isn't a saint. If he truly thought he could forge a substantially different relationship with the players, he was, at best, naive and, at worse, disingenuous. The very nature of the job is built around conflict.

Jeff Saturday apparently respects Goodell, at least. But he credited Robert Kraft first for the lockout settlement.

Players are creatures of structure. Their entire careers have been dictated by rules -- what they can and can't do, and what price they'll pay if they violate those rules. Goodell's penalties sometimes lacked structure and precedent. The players resented it and still do.

Once Goodell began campaigning for a new CBA, his relationship with the players was forever changed. His pro-ownership rhetoric in letters to NFLPA members and in op-ed pieces written for the Wall Street Journal drew a line in the turf. He had an agenda, and the agenda followed the management talking points.

No surprise there. That's what Goodell is paid $10 million a year to do: protect the NFL's blind side.

But something about him and the way he does business has caused a handful of players to declare a verbal jihad on Goodell. It's as if the Harrisons of the world feel betrayed. So they talk the loudest and they're heard the most.

I'm no huge Goodell fan. I'll never understand how a thriving, heart-healthy, $9 billion business had to endure a 132-day, owners-initiated lockout (or, as Goodell insisted on calling it, a "work stoppage"). His legacy will always include the fact that this lockout happened on his watch.

However, a new, 10-year CBA also happened on his watch. To what degree Goodell orchestrated that settlement isn't entirely clear. He obviously had a significant role, but Indianapolis Colts player rep Jeff Saturday said there wouldn't have been an agreement without New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. Interesting.

To think that Goodell is universally disliked by NFL players is silly. He isn't. He also isn't universally beloved, but who cares?

The Colts' Saturday is said to respect Goodell. So apparently do several other players who were involved in the talks. Respect and being liked are two different things, of course. One matters, the other doesn't, especially in Goodell's line of work.

An NFL spokesperson said Goodell wasn't interested in discussing the recent criticism by players. The criticism, said the spokesperson, is an occupational hazard of the job and a byproduct of the often emotional and intense labor negotiations.

Fair enough.

But clearly, there is a divide between some players and Goodell. The width and length of that divide is less defined. For Harrison, it's as wide as the Monongahela River. For others, as wide as a sideline stripe.

The lesson is as old as the lyrics of The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again." Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.

Goodell was the new boss who became the old boss. He can bear-hug all the first-round draftees he wants on the Radio City Music Hall stage, but he is not their friend and never will be. That's because his paychecks aren't signed by the players.

If the lockout proved anything, it's that Goodell and the players don't have to be pals to coexist. They only have to be able to sign their names at the bottom of the new CBA. If they want a friend, get a dog.